Overpressurizing / Overfilling steel tanks

[roakey]

Originally posted by joewr
Roak,

Everytime you put on a piece of dive gear you are letting a scientist or engineer give you advice

you forgot the part:

...filtered by the company's legal department."

That's why when a PST or Faber engineer says off the record "Our cylinders are cycled at 10k times at 4500 psi" I listen, and when the company says on the record "2640 psi or it'll blow up!" I take it with a dose of salt.

I have no problem taking advice from the engineers and scientists. But I factor in a lot of real-world data too, since you can't ignore what's going one out here, either!

Roak

 

[roakey]

Moderators:

Let this continue, no one is stooping to calling anyone else an idiot, so the argument is being kept at a debate, rather than a personal level and this is good.

[Though I did come dangerously close with my shot at Greg Trahan's PSI number and for that I apologize.]

We all may end up agreeing to disagree, but at the very least both sides are airing their arguments in a rational manner.

Roak

 

[JoelW]

"I've never had a scientist or an engineer tell me that if I release a weight belt above my foot it will fall and hurt my foot (I guess I'd need a doctor to tell me that, wouldn't I?). So next time I'm thinking of letting go of my weight belt above my foot I can assume that'll hang in mid-air, correct?

Roak"


Roakey,

You can now say that you have had an engineer tell you that if you release a weight belt above your foot it will fall and with high probability hurt your foot. At the very least you will do the silly dance to avoid hitting yourself. Any sufficiently heavy object falling fulfills the specifications for initiation of the silly dance.

JoelW

 

[Bob3]

Hey, my snipe at FL's "third world" status has to do with their DOT's lack of enforcement and also their violation of basic OSHA guidelines pertaining to diving.
It's reflected by their commercial diving wages being among the lowest in the US. (low pay + ignoring basic safety = third world attitude).

Now let's quit squabbling & go blow up some aluminum tanks !!
:boom:

 

[joewr]

Originally posted by Bob3
Now let's quit squabbling & go blow up some aluminum tanks !!
:boom:

Bob,

I'll bring the chips and salsa...along with my strength of materials book.:tease:

Joewr...now, here's a guy after my own heart...

 

[Lost Yooper]

I don't think the argument is that lawyers set standards in a meeting, but they're standing in line to sue big companies for any reason at all -- and they will win. They are indirectly setting the standards by instilling fear in everyone including scientists and engineers.

IMO, the engineers "facts" that people keep referring to are heavily influenced by the very real danger of lawsuits. This issue has everything to do with legalities and money -- not reality. As I've said before, I don't blame the companies and agencies for being conservative. They have too much to lose (even if it's not their fault) and a lot to gain by being conservative, but the argument here is percieved danger versus real danger. It seems blatently obvious to me that this issue has more to do with fear of lawsuits than real danger.

Overfilling tanks has been done for as long as there's been tanks, and the DOT stays away. I doubt the DOT has any interest in trying to prevent a problem that doesn't really exist. If they really thought this was a big deal, and it was killing people and blowing up shops all the time, they would have been taking a much more proactive approach all along. Good luck trying to enforce it anyway.

Perhaps one person's reality is another person's fear, I guess.

Mike

PS. I'd like to commend most everyone for taking part in this lively, but civil, dabate. This is how it's supposed to be.

 

[Bob3]

Another interesting tidbit regarding the DOT regs; they only apply to tanks used in interstate transport. That means you're not even REQUIRED to have a hydro !! (sorry, in Canada you ARE required by law.)
Now, who's got some aluminum tanks they want to sacrifice to the steel gods?
:egrin:

 

[MrMrEZG]

Roakey You had absolutely nothing to do with my post. I was simply stating that I am not just talk off the top of my head, but that I am trained in this field. In fact it was Puddle Jumper's post that prompted me to put my Psi # on my post.

Originally posted by Puddle Jumper

Puddle Jumper
PSI #RE 5759

but if you wish to, childishly, make an issue of it, then by all means, degrade yourself. You will not cost me any sleep.

 

[Iguana Don]

For some of those sacrifices to the steel gods.

Let me see, where did I put that C4?

 

[roakey]

Originally posted by MrMrEZG
but if you wish to, childishly, make an issue of it, then by all means, degrade yourself. You will not cost me any sleep.

You'll find that I already aplogized several notes previous.

Roak